A CBI probe found that a shelter management agency created fake employees who never worked there, fabricated attendance records and credited salaries in their accounts.
The CBI uncovered widespread fraud in Delhi’s night shelters. (AI-Generated Image)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a complaint of criminal conspiracy and cheating after conducting an investigation into a shelter management agency and government agencies linked to alleged fraud in night shelters under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).
The CBI found sufficient evidence of fraud against the president of an NGO based in Northeast Delhi, two subordinates and some unidentified government and private individuals. The investigation revealed widespread financial irregularities, including bogus employees, fabricated attendance records and salary payments to employees not working in the assigned roles, according to The Indian Express.
The CBI initiated the inquiry on May 28 last year based on complaints from two officials of the Delhi Shelter Homes Workers Unions, alleging that the shelter management agency had created fake employees to siphon off government reimbursements.
Salaries Credited Despite Never Working
The shelter management agency, which is responsible for deploying staff including supervisors, caretakers and security guards, created fictitious employees who never worked at the shelters, fabricated their attendance records and credited salaries in their accounts.
Furthermore, the CBI said in the FIR that the salaries credited in their accounts was withdrawn and allegedly handed back in cash to those managing the society. “Even, many of these so-called employees were in fact engaged in entirely different professions or employed elsewhere, while fabricated attendance records were manipulated at the office level to legitimise the fraud,” the agency said.
The CBI said the verification of the employees’ professional engagements and mobile location data showed that they were present at their actual workplaces and not at any night shelter during the period for which they were being paid for.
“These individuals had never actually worked in any night shelter, indicating that their identities were used only for the purpose of siphoning off government funds. Several of these bogus staff members were found residing 10–15 kilometres away from their supposed place of duty, and were never seen by actual shelter staff or residents – pointing to a systemic misuse of identities to divert government funds,” the FIR said.
Furthermore, the CBI also found that DUSIB officials failed to conduct mandatory inspections and did not submit any report on financial irregularities. Suhail Khan, the president of Sofia Educational and Welfare Society – the shelter management agency tasked with running the night shelters – and two other private individuals, Amir and Sonu Kushwaha, have been named as accused.
The CBI called it a “well-planned conspiracy involving fraudulent documentation, misappropriation of government funds and active connivance of individuals and public servants.”
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